eichbaum



i UNITED STATES.

PATENT OFFICE.

4HENRY EIOHBAUM, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNORV OF TWO-THIRDS OF HISRIGHT T() FRANK O. HERRING, JOHN FARREL, AND ELIJAH T.

SHERMAN, OFA SAME PLACE.

BURGLAR-PROQF SAFE.

` SPECIFICATION forming part of `Letters Iaten-t No. 224,409, datedFebruary 10, 1880.

` application filed June 2o, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY EICHBAUM, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented 'certain new and useful Improvements 5 inBurglar-Proof Safes, whereof the following is a specification. Y v

The said improvements relate to the structure of the door and jamb andthe means respectively of hanging, adjusting, and securing 1o or boltingthe door.

l I adopt a form whereof the sidesand back A ring of ductile metal isembedded inthejamb for an abutment to the bolts, which arel zo thrownout behind it in bolting'the door. A

ring or frame of ductile metal is anchored in j the door, on which aframe is secured that,

carries the bolt-work. `This consists of segments having `motionimpartedthereto by- 2 5 sultable means operated from a central spindle,and said bolts, by impingingagainst the inner surface of apart ofthejamb'forming the abutment for the bolts, are adapted to draw in theVdoor in the act of bolting it.

structed as to kadmit of dividing the weight of the door between theupper and lower arms of the hinges, and also aid in adjusting the doorto the opening therefor in the front of the safe.

I have shown in the annexed drawings a safe embodying my improvements ofthe class usually made by casting in a mold, although part of myimprovements' are applicable to 40 other kinds. l

In said drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of the safe and door.Fig. 2 is a front j view of the safe and door. Fig. 3 shows a face view,partly in sectiom'of the inside of the door. Fig. 4 shows'theydoorpartly in section, and as seen fromthe underside. Fig. 5 is a section'of one-half of the door, showing the means of fastening. Fig. 6 showsthe arms for hanging and adjusting the door.

To enable others skilled in the art to con- 5o struct my improved safe,I will proceed to dcscribe the same.

Safes have been made by casting the main part or the whole of the bodythereof in ay mold; but when made square or rectangular they have beenincapable of successfully/resisting the fracturing effect of heavyblows, as of 'a sledge-hammer, and when spherical or spheroidal in formthey do not afford sufficient and convenient space .within 6o I haveadopted a form for the body of the safe securing Athe arch or sphere,combined with the convenience and amount of space within `therectangular shape, and such form, although having an approximatelyrectangular outline, if struck on the outside witha sledge the force ofthe blow will be received and resisted by the swelling` and rotundsurface which is presented atall points of the exte- This is illustratedin Figs. l and 2, where it will be seen that, however viewed,

the back, sides, edges, and corners of the exterior all present convexsurfaces at all sides v and corners. The means of hinging the door aresoconf Around4 the openingfor the` door I make the metal of increasedthickness, (as I esteem this theweakestplaceQand inthe form of a heavyannular boss,.A, in which the curves 8o `of theadjoiningsides of thebodyv A terminate,

and which projects beyond the opening for the door, so that when thedoor is in place the edge of the opening is perfectly protected fromblows of a sledge-hammer. u

The cast metal I use consists,l preferably, of Franklinite orspiegeleisen, though any' hard metal or alloy might be employed-such,foreX- ample, as white cast-iron,chilled iron, or caststeel. I preferspiegeleisen or Franklinite, asit 9o ischeap, and has proveditself byactual tests to be proof against the drill in the hands of burglars.From the fact that said metal isessentially inductile and practicallyincapable of being worked by cuttingtools, I insert in the mold,previous to casting, a wrought-iron or steel frame or ring, C, whichserves as part of the seat for the door, and being a ductile metal canbe accurately turned and trued not only to tit the diameter of the door,but also on that surface which is presented to the interior ot the safewhere it formsthe abutment for the bolts of the safedoor. Such frame orring also serves the very important purpose of giving the door, by meansof its bolts, an effective hold on the bodyof metal in front of thebolts, as it extends into the boss A', and hence a much larger mass ofmetal would have to be ruptured to blow out or otherwise force away thedoor than if said ring were omitted.

B is the safe-door, made in this instance of hard east metal; and toprovide finished and accurate grooves for the bolts of the door and havethem carried by a material of great tenslle strength, I employ abolt-frame of a strong ductile metal-such as wrought-iron or steelandmade in this instance in the form of a ring, E 5 and to secure thisbolt-frame to the door so that it cannot be forced therefrom by any ofthe usual means at burglars command, I insert in the mold of the door,previous to casting, aring of wrought-iron or steel, D, in such aposition that when the dooris east part of the outside of the ring isleft exposed, while the main portion is firmly embedded and anchored inthe body of the door, and held therein partly through means of suitableprojections or anchors d, forming part of the ring or amxed thereto, andpartly by the strong contraction and adherence of the cast metal to thering. This ring D, instead of being in one piece, may be in several, asits resisting power is not required to be exerted circumferentially, buttransversely from the embedded to 'the exposed edge. To this ring Isecure the boltframe aforesaid, or ring, E by cutting a heavyscrew-thread upon its interior surface and a corresponding thread uponthe exterior surface ofthe ring D, and screwing one upon the other, asshown in Figs. 4 and 5.

Au equivalent mode of securing the boltframe E to the xed ring or anchorD is to turn the outer surface of one and the inner surface of the otheron a taper, as shown in Fig. 1, and then shrink the one over the other.

The door of the safe is arranged to swing, in opening and closing, onhinge-arms H I, secured to a shaft, G, working in hubs F F, affixed toor east on the body of the safe. These arms are pivotally attached tohubs b' b2 on the door, as follows: The free end of the arm H is tappedand tted with a long screw, h, on the upper end of which is formed abearing, that is tted to turn freely in the hub b on the door. Byraising or lowering this screw h the door may be raised or lowered inadjusting it to move freelyinto and from its opening in the safe.

The bearing on the screw h may be set in a core of Babbitt or like metalinserted in the hub b', to avoid grinding out the hub.

To make the upper arm, I, bear a proportion of the weight of the door,the spindle b3 or pivot of the arm I is keyed or otherwise made fast inthe door, as shown at b2, and the upper end of such spindle is threaded,and receives a nut, i, and washers above the arm I, whereby the door maybe drawn toward the said arm and the lower arm, H, relieved of as muchof the weight of the door as may be desired.

By the above several means the proper adj ustment ofthe door is greatlyfacilitated, since the door may thereby be adjusted in height tocorrespond exactly with the opening therefor in the safe.

The door being very accurately fitted by grinding to the openingtherefor in the safe, I also vprovide means for adjusting the doorlaterally as to such opening, as follows: By reference to the drawings,Figs. 2 and 6, it will be observed that the arms are much closertogether at their'hinged ends than at their free extremities, reachingobliquely upward and downward from their contined to theirfree ends. Thedoor being massive and heavy and the arms of considerable length, theyyield more or less to this weight, and the operation of such yield ofthe respective arms has a different elfect on the door. Thus, if theweight of the door be carried entirely by the upper arm, I, the effectwill be to straighten the arm toward a horizon tal line, and so carrythe door too farfrom the hinge; and if the weight be carried entirely bythe lower arm, H,theeifect is to bend the arm more, and so carry thedoor too close to the hinge. These effects are indicated in Fig. 6,where the arms (seen in full lines in their normal positions and indotted lines in their strained positions) show that the giving down ofthe upper arm, I, carries the door outward along the are w away from thehinge, and the giving down of the arm H carries the door inward alongthe are y z toward the hinge, so that, while the door may be adjusted inelevation by the screws in either arm, its adjustment laterally willdepend upon the proportion of the weight of the door which each armcarries; for, at'ter adjusting the door exactly in elevation, if, forinstance, it is found necessary to set the door outward from the hingein order to match the opening, it may be done by first relieving thelower arm of part of the weight and transferring it to the upper arm byturning out the screw h in the lower arm, the eifect of which will be tocause the outer extremity of the upper arm to move down and out alon gthe are fw w and the extremity ofthe lower arm to move up and out alongthe are yz a part of the outer distance required, at the same timeslightly lowering the door. Now, to restore the proper elevation ofthedoor and carry it outward the remainder ot' the distance required, afurther strain is put on the upper arm by screwing up the nut on IOO IIO

IIS

the spindle b3, the effect of .which will be to raise the door to itsproper elevation, and, while still further relieving the s train uponthe lower arm and putting more upon the upper arm, cause their freeextremities to move outward along their respective arcs, carrying 4thedoor with them the remainder of the dis tance required to match theopening laterally. If, on the other hand, after adjusting the door inelevation, it should require to be set inward toward the hinge in order.to match the opening laterally, the afore-described operation upon thescrew h and spindle b3 would be reversed.

To insure the movement of the door directly to its place and so that itwill not bind in the opening, I have a guide, K, and a groove, J, in thejamb and door, respectively, and arranged transversely thereto. Suchguidek and its groove are preferably located in the lower part of thejamb and under side of the door, and the guide K projects over the stepin the edge of the door corresponding to the step in which the, grooveis cut in the jamb. The guide is tapered on the entering end, so as toslip easily into the groove, and the guide holds the door in properposition until pushed home to its seat in the jamb, ready for bolting.

I will now describe my new means of fastening or bolting the door. Iemploy a series of three or more bolts in form of segments, M,conforming to the shape of the door B, adapted to be moved radiallyoutward and inward from and toward the center of the door in their'bolting and unbolting action. These segmental bolts M are preferablyarranged to Y swing on pivots M in a groove, L, formed to through use ofa spindle,P, which passes centrally through the door to the outsidethereof', and is there provided with a suitable handle, Q.V The means Ihave shown consist of a number of radial screws, N, corresponding to thebolts, the outer extremities of which screws actdirectly upon saidbolts, and on the inner ends pinions O are mounted in bearings S,

these pinions being turned in common fromv the spindle P aforesaid by abevel-wheel, O', thereon.

The combination of the above parts or mechanism may be made in anysuitable manner. The plan shown in the drawings, and which I have usedwith success, makes the pinions O serve also as nuts, the same beingthreaded within, and the inner ends of the screws N adapted to workfreely in such pins, while the The bolts are of outer ends of the seriesconnect directly with sive through the joint is rendered impossible.

In order to accomplish this the entire circumference of the inner faceof the ring O is bev-` eled, as shown in Ipig. 1, or, instead, all thatportion of the bolting-segmeuts M which corresponds thereto, or both,may be beveled, as

shown, and so arranged with respect to each other that when the boltsare set out from the door and engage the face of the ring C, whileremaining partly in the groove L, the door will be actedupon for drawingit in around its entire'circumference simultaneously. On closing thedoor and turning the spindle P the bolts emerging from the groove Lalmost immediately engage the inner surface of the ring C, and a furtherrotationof said spindle draws the door inward in the manner aforesaidand securely fastens it.

The junction 'of the door with the safe thus Amade and with trned andaccurate surfaces forms a joint so close that the introduction of wedgesor explosives is rendered impossible.

The operation of the bolts is to be checked or controlled by lockingVmechanism, which may be of any kind desired.

T T are 1ever-handles attached to screws set in the arms H I, andadapted to be forced against the-bodyr of the safe to start the door out(after the bolts are retracted) preparatory to opening the door.

IOO

Having thus described my improvements, I

grooved on its periphery, for the reception of j suitable bolts. A

4. In combination with the safe-door, the

bolt-frame anchor, the grooved bolt-frame, and

the bolts M, pivoted therein, substantially as specified. y

5. The combination,with the safe-door having a grooved bolt-frame, of aseries of three or'more segmental bolts and a corresponding series ofradial screws applied directly thereto, each provided with zt pinion,and all adapted for operation from a central spindle.

6. In combination with the safe-door sind radially-moved segmentalbolts, the safe-body having the continuous frame or bolt abutment.

7l The combination of the continuons frame or bolt abutment andrafliallymoved segmental bolts having a beveled face or faces, nsspecified, adapted to co-opernte for drawing 1o in the door afterclosing` it.

8. The combination, with the door, of the HENRY EICHBAUM.

Witnesses:

EARLE H. SMITH, Sims H. RUsToN.

